Abstract

Syrian flora is very well known of its diversity and richness. It contains a large number
of medicinal and aromatic species. There are many different hawthorn Crataegus: sinaica,
aronia, monogyna and azorolus available in Syria which is mainly located in the western and
southern part of the country. Most of these Syrian species are used in folk and in traditional
medical care. They are taken in the form of herbal tea to contradict cough, flu and cold.
There is no any scientific information available on the antioxidant properties of Syrian hawthorn
medicinal plant. Therefore, the assessment of such properties remains an interesting
and useful task, particularly for finding a new natural source of antioxidants available in
Syria. Therefore, the integral antioxidants, IA of Syrian hawthorn fruits and flowers in five
different sites as ascorbic acid equivalents have been carried out using photochemiluminescence,
PCL assay of measurements for the first time.
By means of a PCL assay, it was possible to assess the integral antioxidant (IA ) using this accurate
and simple method, the highest antioxidant capacity values of hawthorn as ascorbic
acid equivalents were found in the fruits of Bi’r Al-ajam and Al-Haffa sites which have values
of 1444.82 and 483.44 (nmol/g), for C. monogyna and C. aronia cataegus, respectively.
The highest fractions of antioxidant components are mainly due to the existence of catechin
and flavonoids in both Syrian hawthorn fruit and flowers. Other chemical constituents
like elemicin, sorbistat, polygalitol and homocatechol are found in Syrian hawthorn
fruit and flowers. The measured values are considered to be the highest among countries
of the region.
Key words: antioxidant capacity, ascorbic acid equivalents, photochemiluminescence, hawthorn
Crataegus sinaica, Crataegus aronia, Crataegus monogyna, Crataegus azorolus, medicinal plants